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Economic Profile

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The City is a major contributor to the economic activity of the region and its economic profile reflects its strong position. There are nearly 50,000 local jobs in the City across a range of industries and sectors. Economy ID gives in-depth and interactive information on economic activity in the City, including industries, local employment and economic output.

There are over 7,000 local businesses, 49,000 local jobs and over 56,000 residents employed in the City of Cockburn.

Over the last 10 years, local jobs have almost doubled. 20 per cent of local jobs are concentrated in the City’s commercial parks in Bibra Lake, Phoenix and Cockburn Central. These areas employ more than 6,000 people combined.

In the 2015-16 financial year the City of Cockburn’s local economy generated more than $7 billion, which is approximately 2.6 per cent of WA’s Gross State Product.

(Source: Economy.id based on 2015 data)

Economic profile - industrial

Cockburn industries provide about 30 per cent of the employment for the south west area of Perth. This area includes the cities of Fremantle, Kwinana, Melville and Rockingham and the Town of East Fremantle. Cockburn industries generate over $5 billion in domestic and international exports.

Economic profile - residential

30 per cent of Cockburn’s employed residents have a tertiary qualification. Just over half of the City’s residents in the workforce are male (54 per cent) with females representing 45.9 per cent of employed Cockburn residents.

11.2 per cent of Cockburn’s residents work in manufacturing, 11 per cent in health care and social assistance and 10.7 per cent in construction.

The top three occupations for Cockburn residents are technicians and trade workers (18.6 per cent), professionals (18.1 per cent) and clerical and administrative workers (15.9 per cent).

The top five industries in Cockburn make up over 50 per cent of jobs in the local area.
Manufacturing makes up nearly 20 per cent of jobs, followed by construction (16.5 per cent), retail trade (8.7 per cent), professional scientific and technical services (7.6 per cent) and education and training (6.9 per cent).
From 2009 to 2015, the three biggest employment growth sectors were construction (1), professional, scientific and technical services (2) and manufacturing (3).

The City has an economic analysis toolkit, Economy ID, which provides information on the City’s economic profile, industries, residential employment and workforce statistics. Economy ID is interactive and compares Cockburn’s performance with other local governments, the wider Perth region and the state.